S.F. police didn’t investigate gun theft before pier killing

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

San Francisco police did not assign an investigator to look into the theft of a gun from a federal agent’s car — a pistol that is believed to have been used, four days later, to kill a woman walking with her father on Pier 14, authorities said Thursday.

Police Chief Greg Suhr said that the June 27 break-in of a car belonging to a U.S. Bureau of Land Management ranger, which was reported to police, had not been assigned to an inspector by the time 32-year-old Kathryn Steinle was killed along the Embarcadero on July 1. Steinle’s funeral was held Thursday outside her hometown of Pleasanton.

Suhr said he could not elaborate on why such a serious case had not been followed up on by an investigator. . But Tuesday, the chief issued a department-wide bulletin reminding officers of the process in place for identifying “cases that require an immediate investigation.”

Station and investigations bureau lieutenants, he said, should review each police report and decide whether to refer the case to an inspector, taking into account such factors as whether the crime is serious, whether it is solvable and whether there are witnesses.

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As new details come out, like Ross Mirkarimi misrepresenting the sheriff department's actions around Francisco Sanchez, to this story, these details show a pattern of negligence on the part of local law enforcement.